The Austrian chargé d'affairs in Teheran in the late 1890's
was Hungarian, one de Rakovsky, a man with an interest in Persian
antiquities, including old carpets. Here is one of his enterprises
described:

"He was
in treaty for the ancient carpet in the famous shrine of Shah Niamatallah
at Mahur, some twenty miles from Kerman; but so intricate are the
ways of Oriental bargaining that it was over a month before he got
it into his possession. This carpet, which I saw later on, had been
presented to the shrine by Shah Abbas in the sixteenth century,
was much worn and cut up into as many as thirty pieces, which the
Persians had rejoined with no regard to pattern. But in spite of
being nearly threadbare, so that the original colors were difficult
to discern, one could not but admire the design of grand medallions
on a dark crimson ground, filled in with leaves and branches, and
bordered with verses in Persian characters on a series of oblongs.
Cruelly as it had been treated, yet the lovely yellows, rich reds,
and indigos were still undimmed in places, and now it must be the
pride of the museum to which its possessor presented it." (1)

There is an
additional contemporaneous description of the carpet, apparently
the so-called Sarajevo carpet: "The floor [of the shrine] was
covered by a fine old carpet with large medallions presented to
the shrine by Shah Abbas, which has since been bought by M. Rakovsky.
The date woven in it is A. H. 1067 (1656), whereas the great monarch
died some years previously...Probably the date shows when it was
finished." (2)

The Sykes siblings
thus sketch out the circumstance of a shrine rug's condition, appearance,
and acquisition.